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Russian/Soviet M91All content copyright 7.62x54r.net
Return to Models Introduction
After trials of several different repeating bolt action designs Russia adopted a new standard infantry rifle in 1891. It fires the 7.62x54rcartridge and is a combination of designs by Russian Sergei Mosin and Belgian Leon Nagant whose primary contribution was themagazine and feed system. The official Russian designation is Three Line Rifle, Model of the Year 1891 but is more commonly know
in the US as the Mosin Nagant M91. A line is a unit of measure equal to 1/10thof aninch. Production of the M91 took place at the
Russian arsenals at Izhevsk, Tula, and Sestroryetsk. Due to a slow start in domestic production a contract was issued to the French armscompany Chatellerault who built around 500,000 M91s. During WWI contracts were issued to the American firms of New EnglandWestinghouse and Remington for 1.8 and 1.5 million rifles respectively. M91s were widely used in WWI and can be found with markin
from many different European countries that purchased or captured them.
The rifle pictured at the top of the page is in original configuration with the finger rest, no handguard, short cleaning rod, sling swivels the magazine and front barrel band, early flat rear sight leaf, no recoil bolt and no sling slots. The rifle pictured below is in the final
configuration with no finger rest, a handguard, full length cleaning rod, no sling swivels, Konovalov rear sight, recoil bolt, sling slots, alate pattern (type 4) barrel bands. Many M91s can be found with a mix of early and late features such as early barrel bands or missing thhandguards due to damage and no replacement. See below for the intervening configurations and variations from other countries.
Specifications
For all models see the Mosin Nagant Rifle Specificationspage.
WeightOver All
Length
Barrel
Length
Stock
Length
Groove
Diameter
Sight
Radius
Cleaning Rod
Length (appro
9 1/2 lbs.4.3kg.
51 1/2"130.8 cm.
31 1/2"80.0 cm.
47 1/2"120.7 cm.
.311"27"
68.6 cm.29"
73.7 cm.
Years of Production by Arsenal
For all models see the Mosin Nagant Rifle Years of Productionpage.
Chatellerault Tula Izhevsk SestroryetskNew England
WestinghouseRemington
1892 to 1895 1891 to 1926 1891 to 1926 (1) 1892 to 1918 1915 to 1918 (2) 1915 to 1918
(1)Izhevsk production may have ended prior to 1926
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(2)All NEW M91s are dated 1915, regardless of year of actual production
Barrel Markings
The translated text is in the same format as the original and the dates are when the marking was used.
Ordnance
FactoryChatellerault1892-1895
Izhevsk
Ordnance Factory1892-1919
Izhevsk
Ordnance Factory1919-1926
SestroryetskOrdnance Factory
1892-1918
ImperialTula
Ordnance Factory1891-1892(courtesy of Robert Jensen)
ImperialTula
Ordnance Factory1892-1912
Tula
EmperorPeter the Great
Ordnance Factory
1912-1918
Tula
Ordnance Fac(tory)1918-1919
Foremost(at) Tula
Ordnance Factory
1919
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Foremost
TulaOrdnanceFactory
RSFSR1919-1920
Foremost
TulaOrdnanceFactory
RSFSR1920-1924
Foremost
OrdnanceFactory
(of the) USSR
at Tula1924-1926
Remington
Armory1915-1917
Remington
Armory1917-1918
New England
WestinghouseCompany
early "curved logo" with large arc
New EnglandWestinghouse
Company
late "curved logo" with small arc
New EnglandWestinghouse
Company
"straight logo"
New EnglandWestinghouse
Company
"straight logo", "stylized eagle"
All New England Westinghouse M91s are dated 1915 regardless of actual year of manufacture. See the New England Westinghouse
Barrel Markspage for more detailed information.
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Receiver Tang Markings
Tula Hammer and date (2 digit pre 1900) Tula Hammer and date (3 digit post 1900) Izhevsk Bow and Arrow and date (pre 192
Sestroryetsk Arrow and date (2 digit pre1900)
Sestroryetsk Arrow and date (3 digit post1900)
Chatellerault Circle C and date
Chatellerault Circle P, no dateNew England Westinghouse M with arrow
(Can be other letters)On top of tang, no markings on bottom
Training rifle markOn top of tang
Also found on barrel forward of rear sigh
Receivers from 1891 until 1893 or 1894 were not marked on the tang, while Remington and New England Westinghouse did not dateany receivers.
Design RevisionsThe chart and pictures below document the revisions to the original M91 design over it's more than three decades of production. Few othe earliest rifles are still in original configuration as most have been updated to one degree or another. Also, rifles can be found which
do not fit the configurations listed below because they received one or more upgrades, but not all of them. Still other rifles have beenrepaired with earlier parts at some point and therefore "downgraded". In the case of handguards it's often simply a matter of it beingbroken in use, discarded, and never replaced. Karl-Heinz Wrobel, author of "Drei Linien, Die Gewehre Mosin-Nagant" deserves much
the credit for the information presented here and it would not be as accurate or complete without his invaluable help. The rifles in manof the pictures don't actually exist as shown and are a combination of parts from several rifles and digital alteration of the photographsfact, parts from only five rifles were used for the ten configurations and only one stock and action appear below. The intent is to educa
and illustrate, not deceive, and the visitor's understanding of this is appreciated.
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Configuration
Number1Finger
RestHandguard
Cleaning
Rod2Sling
Swivels
BarrelBands
3
Rear
Sight4Crossbolt
SlingSlots
Date ofChange Arsenals
1 yes no shortmagazine
and
front band
conf. 1 original none none 1892 C, T, I, S
Original, no changes
2 no no shortmagazine
and
front band
conf. 1 original none noneJune 4,
1893C, T, I, S
Dropped finger rest
3 no yes short
magazine
andfront band
conf. 2 original none noneFebruary 2,
1894C, T, I, S
Added handguard which necessitated a change in the barrel bands
4 no yes long
magazine
andfront band
conf. 2 original none none 1896 T, I, S
Lengthened cleaning rod and altered stock accommodate it
5 no yes long magazineonly6
conf. 3 original none none unknown T, I, S
Dropped sling swivel at front barrel band6
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6 no yes long none conf. 3 original none yes 1908 T, I, S
Added sling slots which had been in use on Dragoon and Cossack rifles from the beginning of their production and dropped swivel onmagazine
7 no yes long none conf. 3 Konovalov none yes mid 1909 T, I, S
Changed rear sight to Konovalov type with adoption of M1908 spitzer bullet cartridge
8 no yes long none conf. 3 Konovalov wood7 yes unknown T, I, S
Added wooden crossbolt7
9 no yes long none conf. 3 Konovalov steel yes late 1909 T, I, S
Changed crossbolt to steel
10 no yes long none conf. 4 Konovalov steel yesearly 1909
to 19108T, I, S, N,
Changed barrel bands to type 4 with an oval shape and recessed tension screw
Notes.
1. The "configuration numbers" used in this chart are not official designations and are provided only as an aid for collectors to discussthe subject.2. The short cleaning rod design changed several times in 1893 and 1894 (Karl-Heinz Wrobel).
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3. There are four configurations of barrel bands used on M91s. Configuration 1 has an "exposed" tension screw, no notches for the
handguard tabs, and a sling swivel. Configuration 2 is basically the same but has notches for the handguard tabs. Most configuration 1bands had the notches added, converting them to configuration 2. Configuration 3 eliminates the sling swivel, which may or may nothave been an original configuration. Configuration 4 has an oval shape and recessed tension screw.
4. When the rear sight leaf was changed the shape of the base where the leaf connects also changed slightly. Konovalov (later) rear sighleaves will fit on the early bases, but early flat leaves will not fit on the later bases.
5. Arsenal abbreviations are as follows; Chatellerault, Tula,Izhevsk, Sestroryetsk, New England Westinghouse, and Remington.6. It is thought that a hook attached to the sling which fit over the tension screw on the front barrel band was used prior to the conversi
to sling slots, but it is not mentioned in source documents (John Sheehan, Karl-Heinz Wrobel).
7. There is some question whether or not the wooden crossbolt is Russian or was done by another country as no mention of them appeain source documents (Karl-Heinz Wrobel). Rifles have been documented with only wooden crossbolts and with steel crossbolts
retrofitted through a wooden crossbolt.8. Configuration 4 bands began to be used in early 1909 but rifles were still being produced in 1910 using the configuration 3 bands(Karl-Heinz Wrobel).
Other Country's VariationsSee the Finnish M91page for variations from Finland. Follow the links for detailed information on eachrifle.
Japanese
RussoJapaneseWar capture
6.5 Arisakasingle shottrainer
conversion
GermanWWIcapture
Mauserbayonetconversion
Japanese
RussianCivil War
AlliedInterventionsingle shot
trainer
US(Remington)WWI
contractUS walnutstock
Belgian
post-WWI/1920sera
commercial8mmconversion
Spanish
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Civil War
purchaseSpanish(post war?)
walnut stock
RomanianCold War
eraInstructietraining rifle
Romanianunknown
era, possiblyCold WarRomanian
made twopiece stock
Hex Receiver
Sight VariationsThe original rear sights on Russian M91 rifles are a flat leaf graduated in arshini (singular arshin) which is an archaic Russian unit equto 28". The base has five notches numbered 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 representing hundreds of arshini. Chatellerault placed the numbers on thright side of the base while all other arsenals numbered the left side of the base as in the example below. The rear of the leaf is marked
13 through 27 also representing hundreds of arshini with a notch in the leaf itself serving the 2700 arshini (2100 yards) range. Howevethe example below is not marked with the "26" or "27". The base is attached to the barrel by means of a dovetail and is soldered in plac
With the adoption of the spitzer bullet in 1908 a new rear sight leaf designed by Konovalov was adapted to the existing base which didnot change. The arshin unit was retained and most M91s were retrofitted with the new leaf. The graduations on the back side are from
to 32 (hundred arshini) with the notch at the end of the leaf itself being eliminated.
The first two pictures below are a typical M91 rear sight base with the numbers on the left side while the second two pictures are aChatellerault base with the numbers on the right side.
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The Russian M91 front sight is a simple "barleycorn" blade dovetailed to a base which is integral to the barrel.
Cleaning rod nut, tapered hole in front only,hole in top threaded to receive nose cap screw to aid in removing nut
Nose cap
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Early front barrel band and magazinewith sling swivels. The stock would nothave had sling slots. Most of these were
upgraded.
Front bandsConfiguration 1 (no notches for
handguard tabs)Configuration 2 (notches for handguard
tabs)
Sling slots with screwed in placeescutcheons
Early M91 barrel band, configuration 3 Late M91 barrel band, configuration 4
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Handguard
Handguard end rivets
Copper
Small aluminum
Large aluminum
Bayonet Socket
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